Transcript

00:00:00

>> Mr. President, remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious.>> Roasting the most powerful man in the world had become an annual tradition in America, a way to break the ice in Washington>> This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring.

00:00:18

If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.>> But for the first time in decades, the White House Correspondents' Dinner will not feature a comedian.>>

APPLAUSE

>> Last year's dinner, which President Trump skipped, ruffled some collars in Washington. Amid Trump's attacks on the media, and the general partisan division plaguing the country, the roasting felt more like a flame.

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And the headliner, Michelle Wolf, didn't hold back.>> And I'm never really sure what to call Sara Huckabee Sanders. What's Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women?>> Her set sparked even more drama between the White House and the press core, with the President tweeting, The White House Correspondents' Dinner is dead as we know it.

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This year, instead of Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, or Wanda Sykes, the Association has invited Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ron Chernow. Better known for his biographies on figures like Alexander Hamilton, which was, yes, the source for the musical. Michelle Wolf was not pleased, tweeting that, quote, the @whca are cowards.

00:01:19

The media is complicit. And I couldn't be prouder. Chernow says the Correspondents' Association asked him to make a case for the First Amendment. Adding, quote, freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics.